How To Improve Your Social Strategy for 2017

Social media marketing has changed the way thousands of firms do business – and it looks like it’s here to stay. Not only is social media an important standalone strand of marketing, it also dovetails perfectly with the new marketing methods that are coming to the fore, from word-of-mouth marketing to mobile marketing.

The beginning of a new year is a great time to refine your strategy for the coming twelve months – so here are our top tips for making the vital improvements that could take your social media marketing to the next level.

Put storytelling front and centre

Social media in 2017 is all about telling stories. From livestreaming tools like Periscope and Facebook Live, to features like Snapchat and Instagram Stories, it’s all about creating a narrative for your customers to follow and enjoy. Why not ‘go live’ at your next company meeting, or share a ‘day in the life’ style story from one of your employees’ points of view? Perhaps you could hold a Q&A session with one of your team on Facebook Live, or show how you create a product from start to finish, using images posted to Snapchat. The possibilities are endless!

Don’t forget the ‘social’ aspect

You’d be amazed at how many businesses treat social media as simply another promotional platform for them to post endless product pitches and sales spiels to. The clue is in the name: social media should be social! Reach out to your audience, respond to their questions or queries, participate in conversations. Your social media marketing should be based around dialogues (engaging with your fans or followers) instead of monologues (posting a promotional update then hiding behind a wall of silence).

Be careful with automation

Automation is a great way to streamline your processes and become more efficient in your marketing efforts – but when it comes to social media, sometimes it’s better to do things manually. Many businesses have auto-reply systems set up on Twitter and Facebook, to send out pre-set responses to anyone who follows or communicates with their account. Sure, it’s efficient – but it doesn’t feel very social. Social media users can spot them a mile off, and it can all feel very impersonal. Ditch the auto-Tweet functions and communicate with your potential customers one-to-one.

Get on board with theme days

From #MotivationalMonday to #SundayFunday, it seems there’s a themed hashtag for every day of the week. Use them to your advantage! They’re usually very popular hashtags (#MotivationalMonday trends every week without fail!), and they can get your content seen by many more eyes than usual. You can also repurpose old content for the sake of these themed days (especially #ThrowbackThursday and #FlashbackFriday). These are also great for showing off a more light-hearted side of your business.